Despite this, IAAF president Primo Nebiolo personally opposed the selection, arguing that the city was not large or world-famous enough to be an appropriate host city for the event.[1] Over the next two years, Nebiolo lobbied several times to have the games pulled from the city,[1] in turn causing difficulties for the city in securing sufficient funding from corporate and government sponsors.[3] As late as ten days before the event was to begin, the event still faced a significant budget gap in its broadcasting contracts,[4] with Nebiolo again threatening to pull the games from the city before a last-minute donation from the Canadian Track and Field Association covered the shortfall.[5]

Once the games started, however, Nebiolo was more positive, stating that the games benefited from being held in a smaller centre that was able to provide an athlete-centred experience and had the community spirit to draw on a huge base of volunteers.[6]